NOTES AND QUOTES for a Wednesday in the Napa Valley:

The Santa Barbara Foresters are making another run at the National Baseball Congress Semi-Pro World Series title in Wichita, Kan.

The Foresters, who won championships in 2006 and 2008, have Matt Leonard of Napa as one of their starting pitchers. Leonard, a left-hander who will start his junior year at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in the fall, threw 61⁄3 innings in Saturday’s 6-3 win over Anchorage. Leonard, a Justin-Siena High School graduate, allowed three runs and five hits with four walks and one strikeout.

Leonard was not involved in the decision as the Foresters, who won their seventh straight California Collegiate League title, scored four runs in the seventh inning.

The Foresters are off to a 3-0 start in the 37-team, double-elimination tournament, having beaten Team Elite (Kansas) Kings 3-2 and the Sedalia (Missouri) Bombers, 10-0.

Leonard pitched a no-hitter July 17 for Santa Barbara (42-11-1), which has won 16 of the last 17 CCL titles. For the season with the Foresters, Leonard is 5-0 with a 0.78 earned run average, striking out 36 batters in 402⁄3 innings. Opponents are hitting just .172 against him.

Leonard is one of several members of the Cal Poly baseball team playing in summer-league programs.

Mark DeVincenzi, another former Justin-Siena star who is also a member of the Cal Poly team, has a 2.25 ERA as a relief pitcher for the Bend (Ore.) Elks, who finished second in the West Division and advanced to the West Coast Baseball League playoffs.

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The Sonoma State women’s volleyball team, which returns setter Lindsay Brown of Napa, is picked to finish third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association this season. It was announced on Tuesday after a vote by conference head coaches.

The league’s coaches tabbed Sonoma — which had a co-second-place finish in the CCAA standings a year ago and an appearance in the NCAA-Division II West Regional for the first time since 1993 — to finish third alongside Cal State Los Angeles.

The Seawolves start the 2009 season against Notre Dame de Namur on Aug. 28 at the Seawolf Spike in Rohnert Park.

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The Southern Nevada Titans won the Region 8 American Legion baseball championship Monday, downing B&L Properties of Fairfield in the finals, 14-7, at Laurel Creek Community Park in Fairfield. The Las Vegas-based team is the defending American Legion World Series champion.

Fairfield (31-12), the host team, went 3-2 in the double-elimination tournament.

Southern Nevada (62-12) advances to the national Legion World Series, which starts Friday in Fargo, N.D.

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For the second year in a row, Monte Vista High School-Danville is the recipient of the Elmer Brown Award of Excellence for Academics and Athletics, the CIF North Coast Section announced. It’s a points-based award, recognizing a school for academic and athletic achievement.

The rest of the top-10 includes San Ramon Valley-Danville, Campolindo-Moraga, De La Salle-Concord, Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland, Branson-Ross, Mission San Jose-Fremont, Marin Academy-San Rafael, Piedmont and Miramonte-Orinda.

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UC Davis faces one of its most difficult football schedules in school history, featuring games at Western Athletic Conference members Fresno State and Boise State, and the home-opener against Montana, which advanced to the NCAA Division I FCS Championship.

The Aggies finished 5-7 overall in 2008.

The team’s annual Blue-Gold Game will be Aug. 28 at Aggie Stadium.

Davis has home games against Western Oregon, Winston-Salem State, defending GWC champion Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and North Dakota.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.